Troubleshooter

By : Klaus Rifbjerg

Address given at the presentation of The Søren Gyldendal Prize.

When an artist comes to the fore, it is often because he or she expresses something which everyone knows or feels, but which no one has previously been able to say in just that way. It is a question of an accumulation or latency which suddenly finds an outlet, as when a dam bursts or a stream rises. This was the case with Vita Andersen when she published Tryghedsnarkomaner (Security Addicts) in 1977, a voice found its pitch, but not just the one. Through these jangling and wonderful prose-poems the experiences of a whole generation are given articulation, a cry for help and a triumphal roar rolled into one: I might be bewildered, but listen to how I sing!

The existential deathblow.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of Vita Andersen´s skill is her ability to create an extremely contemporary feel, based on an unsentimental determination to look the past in the eye. It is at the axis of experience (endurance) that the contemporary comes into focus. It is at the very point where nightmare and recollection merge in a new manifestation that a form of art is generated which does not induce gloom, but elation. Even though that might sound rather strange! Because, in all conscience, Vita Andersen´s books do not depict a jolly setting, either in an outer or an inner sense. Everything that takes place on the sunny side is very much on the other side of the street and if one puts Security Addicts alongside the collection of short stories Hold kæft og være smuk (Shut up and be Beautiful, 1978) and the novel Hva´ for en hånd vil du ha´ (Which Hand do you Want, 1987) then there is no doubt that it is the mistake (as the first story in Shut up... is called) which shapes the view of existence, that it is the existential deathblow which governs consciousness. This short story is a model because it (as is the case with most of what Vita Andersen writes) embodies the fundamental intention and distinct elements of all her writing and puts them in a framework which is indeed tragic, but also unruly and humorous in its rich precision. It is the story of a girl who should have been a boy and was therefore named Petra rather than Petrus. Her mother is single, but when a little brother inexplicably appears (named, of course, Petrus) the mother´s interest in Petra fades entirely, yes, she can hardly even be bothered to give her the run-of-the-mill clip on the ear. So there is only solace and truth left for the little girl. She goes to bed with a torch and reads under the bedclothes - ´Readers´ Digest´! And, as it says, "I got to know about lots of things from ´Readers´ Digest´, such as ´Eisenhower, the Man', ´Smoking without Risk´ and ´Be Grateful that You´re Not Beautiful´." Petra is twelve years old.

That salvation is to be found in the ´right´ books, or at least in some of them and certainly in Vita´s, will not be hushed-up here. Because her unique contribution, as with every good artist, is to transform triviality and everyday goings-on into language and imagination and hereby to create an opportunity for self-enlightenment and experience beyond the banal. And - what is more - for others than oneself. She has demonstrated this in children´s books and plays, in poetry and prose. Thank goodness she refrained from simply being beautiful, she even escaped shutting up, and many have become wiser and happier thanks to that. We are all children and, were there not so many who forgot it, the world would be a better place. We all have our faults, but the troubleshooters of art have the message. So listen to them and to Vita. She knows.

This article first appeared in Information, 13 April 1991

Translated by Gaye Kynoch